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Remittances,
poverty reduction and the informalisation of household wellbeing
in Zimbabwe
Sarah Bracking and Lloyd Sachikonye
June 2006
http://www.gprg.org/pubs/workingpapers/pdfs/gprg-wps-045.pdf
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Introduction
"The
poor shall remain poor and the rich shall remain rich".....
She said, "we in the high density areas are leading a "001"
type of life. This meant, "0" breakfast, "0"
lunch and "1" dinner."
(Mubaiwa B, Fieldwork Notes, 3 November 2005)
This report
is a summary of the data collected in fieldwork for an overall research
project on the poverty reducing effects of migrant remittances,
and their effects on the informalisation of economy and society1.
The research seeks to explore the extent to which migrant remittance
transfers affect poverty with particular reference to the medium
of the informal economy. In particular, it is concerned to identify
the forms and extent of informal market relationships which are
liquidated by remittance income, and which are the medium of travel
for its economic circulation. As a corollary it seeks to also estimate
the .in-kind. transfers which substitute for pecuniary transactions.
The research thus adds to the growing literature on the importance
of migrant remittances in terms of deepening our understanding of
the importance of informal and in kind transfers to poverty reduction.
A key challenge
of this research is to establish an appropriate methodology for
mapping a morally ambiguous, hidden and sometime illegal economy.
While there have been attempts before to estimate the volume and
scope of informality in African economies, the methodology used
is near exclusively in terms of showing macroeconomic indicators
at a national level, or tracking errors in the balance of payments.
This research begins to model the informal economy, and the horizontal
transfer of resources from a household level. The initial results
suggest that much more work is required in new methodological approaches
like this, since the magnitude of informality dwarfs formal sector
indicators. In short, the error in calculation could prove to be
larger than the calculation itself.
The fieldwork
surveys
This household survey method was employed to provide data, not only
on volumes and patterns of remittance sending and receipt, but on
first, second and subsequent .use-chains. within the informal and
formal economy. In total 300 households were questioned using a
survey of both quantitative and qualitative themes. We asked questions
on the social composition and demographics of households and their
remittance senders; on migrant journeys; on volumes and magnitudes
of goods and money sent; on how money is sent, whether through formal
institutions or in person, and on how it is stored; and on what
impact it had and on how many people the money or goods supported.
We have also added a hypothetical question which asked what people
would buy if they did receive a gift of four ascending values, which
has yielded interesting insights into aspirations and consumption
identities. We end by mapping livelihoods clusters supported by
remittance income, controlling for other public transfers.
The household
data which forms the early part of the data collected consists of
descriptive statistics on magnitude, effect and type of remittance;
brief migrant narratives on principal senders; and key indicators
on receipt and use of remittances against the following criteria:
- Type (pecuniary,
physical, social)
- Average value
- Volumes
- Frequency
- Method of
flow
- Reasons for
using method of flow
- Formal/informal
split
- Status of
sender and beneficiary
- End user
prices
- First and
subsequent use
- Trends over
time2
In these respects
the following report shows that our initial pilot of our household
questionnaire is a success, in that statistically significant data
can be compiled against these themes. However, there are some methodological
issues outstanding, not least that there is attrition in frequency
of response as the survey proceeds, which could be both due to the
questions becoming more intimate in nature, but also more easily
solvable by editing the survey for future use, and thus cutting
the length of time the exercise takes per respondent. At present,
some later data on modes of transit must be treated as only indicative
and not statistically significant due to low numbers of respondents.
Mr Nhengu and
Mr Mubaiwa sampled households from a number of suburbs of Bulawayo
and Harare, but principally Mabelreign, Highfield, Nkulumane, Mahatshula,
Selbourne Park and Parklands. These were then coded to represent
four sub samples: a richer and poorer suburb in each city. However,
the subsequent actual income distribution by suburb is not in line
with this expectation, as we see below, with the low density Harare
suburbs, which for a number of reasons on which we can speculate,
recording a lower income than their high density counterparts. The
fieldwork notes from Mr Nhengu and Mr Mubaiwa are reproduced at
appendix 1, and contain further detail of their sampling procedures.
Comments
on the methodology
At the outset, some methodological problems were anticipated because
of the sensitive nature of the data sought, and the potential trust
and disclosure issues that would inevitably arise. A prior review
of the ethical issues involved and the prospects of harm to participants
led to the survey being anonymised from the outset, and persons
were only asked for an alias, while their household addresses have
not been recorded. Respondents were given sufficient information
to ensure informed consent under best practice guidelines from both
the University of Manchester, UK and the Institute of Development
Studies, University of Zimbabwe. Critically, the respondents were
specifically informed that the data was not being sought for any
government authority or relief agency, and that no remuneration
was attached to their participation. Despite this, many respondents
told the researchers to advocate their cases of need to those agencies
(appendix 2), and kindly responded without payment although many
were in dire need of assistance.
A comments section
(appendix 2) reports a context of widespread income distress as
the background for this survey. From the researchers. notes it is
also clear that some households were in fear of being victimised
by either the researcher, who they thought might be a government
agent, or as a consequence of participating in a more indirect way.
Others were in fear that the migrant, the absent household member,
would be deported or victimised if they were traced though the survey.
Because the research was undertaken only a few months after the
Operation Murambatsvina many respondents were reported by
the field researchers as being fearful, or as exhibiting trauma.
Five respondents also mentioned the financial strain of looking
after orphans, two lamented the unavailability of anti-retroviral
drugs and HIV; while four spoke of Operation Murambatsvina
directly, all evidence of the wider social crisis of reproduction
in the suburbs, and its dimensions. Further qualitative work would
be useful to trace the micro demographics of the social reproduction
crisis which is evident here only through the interpretation of
income figures which seem entirely insufficient for households.
sustainability.
However, despite
fears expressed by some, or recorded by the interviewers, when given
a chance many respondents still broadened the nature of the research
to make comments more generally about the political and economic
situation in Zimbabwe, which were mostly distressed testimonials
of their acute poverty; and, or pleas for social assistance; and,
or criticisms of the government. These are reproduced thematically
at appendix 2. Both field researchers also noted aspects of social
and economic crisis in many households surveyed, although Mr Mubaiwa
also noted the inequality of opportunity between the rich and poor
households . roughly between the medium and high density suburbs
. and the wealth accumulation that was apparent in the former as
a result of remittances. The fieldwork notes from Mr Mubaiwa and
Mr Nhengu, and the general comments from the respondents are reproduced
at Appendix
1 and 2.
What can be
summarised here, however, is the initial observations of the fieldwork
team, recorded in their contemporaneous notes; evidence that some
variables have provoked greater resistance of response than others;
and some of the recorded views of respondents from the final section
of the surveys. The initial aim of field testing a survey instrument,
while reflexively problematising and examining the methodological
issues involved in that pursuit has been completed by the fieldwork
researchers. A central problem with the field work instrument, which
requires further review, is that the intra household relationships,
of who suffers while another gains were not captured: we still have
little to say definitely about how some peoples wealth might affect
sector prices at someone else.s detriment. Nonetheless, we can make
a number of probably observations about the role of the informalisation
and .pularisation. (a term for the Zimbabwean equivalent of dollarisation,
but with Botswanan Pula as the conduit) of the urban economy.
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1. This research,
funded under the ESRC-funded programme of the Economic and Social
Research
Council (UK), is headed by Dr Sarah Bracking at the Institute of
Development Policy and Management
(IDPM) at Manchester University, and by Prof Lloyd Sachikonye at
the Institute for Development
Studies (IDS) at the University of Zimbabwe. The fieldwork researchers
were Mr Batsirai Mubaiwa
and Mr Fortune Nhengu (both from IDS), who conducted an intensive
period of surveying in four field
sites, two suburbs of Bulawayo (Nkulumane and Bulawayo East), and
two suburbs of Harare
(Highfield and Mabelreign) during October and November of 2005,
involving 300 households. The
database design and data analysis was conducted by Mr Daniel Neff
of IDPM, while the data inputting
was completed by Ms Francisca Kern (freelance).
2. These have been selected with reference to IMF (2004), Research
Priorities, a review of remittance
research
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